Town of Sharon

Community Preservation Committee

Meeting Minutes of on 10/10/12

Amended and approved on 10/25/12

Sharon Town Hall

Filmed by SCTV

 

Committee Attendees

Corey Snow, Chair 

Jane Desberg, Treasurer   - absent

Peg Arguimbau

Susan Rich  - absent

Allen Garf  - absent

Anne Bingham 

Marc Bluestein

 

 

Others

Alice Cheyer

Karen Friedman

Larry Seggelin

Carl Gladstone

 

Meeting Initiation

Chair Snow called the meeting to order at 7:30pm. He stated that the Sacred Heart Reuse Committee members were present on behalf of the Board of Selectmen.

 

Sacred Heart

Chair Karen Friedman of the Sacred Heart Reuse Committee said that the Sacred Heart Reuse Committee is requesting funds to tear down the Sacred Heart building and create a small ball field in its place.

 

Chair Friedman provided a summary of the committee’s history which included sending out two RFPS and receiving no viable response. After consulting with various town factions, it was determined that the town needed an additional field and this space would be appropriate. The Sacred Heart Reuse Committee is working under the direction of the Selectmen.  She stated this is the starting point.

 

Chair Snow said that the legislature has changed recently and thus opening up recreation use.

 

Ms. Friedman stated that there were restrictions on the land to only be used for recreation, cultural or municipal uses.  

 

Mr. Gladstone said that residential use is prohibited as per Town Meeting. The Town also did not want to use this space for municipal purposes.  The interest and hope was to be used for recreational uses.  A pool was looked into but the costs are prohibitive.

 

In a meeting with town residents, their wish was to have the building torn down and they wanted open space for people to use. The Committee met with Brett McGowan former Recreation Director for his input. He said a field was needed.

 

Chair Snow asked why it was not used for indoor recreation. Chair Friedman said that the obstacle was the tearing down of the building. No one wanted to incur the cost. It was tough to get beyond that point.

 

Mr. Gladstone said that there are two parcels of land. We are not focusing on the parking lot area. There are conservation restrictions, there is the pond and there are ground water issues. The parking lot is still needed for the fields. The idea for this space is to create a junior field as per request of Bret McGowan.

 

The field would be a junior field on parcel F. Parcel N would not be touched.

 

Ms. Bingham asked for a concept drawing of the field. She is also concerned with development on that parcel but was not disputing the need for a practice field.

 

Ms. Arguimbau suggested requesting the funds in two stages to make it less complex and said she would also like to see a concept plan.

 

Mr. Bluestein asked if any consideration has been given to a turf field.

 

Ms. Friedman said the cost is too prohibitive.

 

Ms. Bingham said she does not think an irrigation system is needed.

 

Ms Cheyer stated that in her opinion she would like to see the demolition of the building and creation of the field in two stages.

 

Questions were raised as to whether the field will be grass, will there be bleachers, lighting or advertisements.

 

Ms. Bingham said she wants to see a descriptive narrative of what will happen after the building is demolished.

 

Mr. Gladstone said that the Recreation Department will need to design the field.

 

Ms. Friedman said she will find out about the taking down of any trees, in order to address Ms. Bingham’s concerns.

 

Mr. Gladstone said that the Sacred Heart Reuse Committee needs to have a meeting with the Recreation Department and the Recreation Advisory Committee.

 

Chair Snow said that it is only a few weeks until Town Meeting and he see the logical break in requesting the funds for the building demolition separately. He said that there is allot of complexity to sort out regarding the creation of a field and suggested isolating the tear down piece.

 

Mr. Bluestein questioned if the funds can be allocated for recreational use when just the building is being torn down at first.  Chair Snow said that the land can be set aside for recreational purposes and that this is still within the law.

 

Ms. Bingham suggested that the Recreation Department should participate in the field development. She thinks the project is under the gun for Fall Town Meeting. She wants to see the full participation of the Recreation Department as well as concept plans.

 

Ms. Arguimbau suggested creating an executive summary that more clearly defines the tear down piece.

 

Chair Snow suggested splitting the request and pushing the field piece to the spring town meeting.

 

Ms. Bingham wants to see the footprint of the building and fields.

 

Chair Snow says he sees that allot of work has gone into this and it will take time to sort through everything to consider the project.

 

Ms. Bingham said she wants to know how the demolition will take place and what will the impact be to the parcel. She wants to protect the historic trees.

 

Ms. Friedman said that the Selectmen would like to move forward with the teardown.

 

Chair Snow said he will speak with Town Counsel regarding the changes in the law.

 

Other Topics

1. Chair Snow said that the purchase of land at Rattle Snake Hill will be brought up at Town Meeting.

2. Chair Snow said we find ourselves with borrowing capacity now. The final Horizons for Youth payment is in this fiscal year. He is expecting lump sum payments from the rainy day state account and on November 15th we will find out how much we will receive.

3. Chair Snow handed out text of the changes made to the Community Preservation Act.

4. Chair Snow mentioned that there is a request coming to repair the high school track.

5. Ms. Levitts stated that the CPC project application as been updated on line.

 

Community Preservation Coalition

Ms. Bingham moved to continue membership in the coalition. Ms. Arguimbau seconded the motion. The Committee voted 4-0-0 in favor

 

Attachments

1. CPA law language changes

 

Adjournment

Ms. Bingham moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:00 PM and Ms. Arguimbau seconded the motion. The Committee voted 4-0-0 in favor.